THE SCHEDULE
Match 10
at No. 14 Cal State Dominguez Hills (6-1-2, 2-0-2 CCAA)
Friday, Oct. 2 • 4:30 p.m.
Toro Stadium • Carson
Live Video • Live Stats

Match 11
at Cal State L.A. (5-1-1, 3-1 CCAA)
Sunday, Oct. 4 • 11:30 a.m.
Jesse Owens Track • Los Angeles
Live Stats

UCSD TRAVELS TO FACE FORMIDABLE FOES IN TOROS, GOLDEN EAGLES
The UC San Diego men's soccer team has its first two road forays in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) on tap this weekend at a pair of top sides and rivals. The Tritons (3-3-3, 2-1-1 CCAA) go to Carson to face No. 14 Cal State Dominguez Hills (6-1-2, 2-0-2 CCAA) on Friday, Oct. 2, at 4:30 p.m. Then on Sunday, Oct. 4, they head back to Los Angeles for a date with joint leader and reigning West Region champion Cal State L.A. (5-1-1, 3-1 CCAA), the team that ended their 2014 season, at 11:30 a.m. Both matches will serve as the first halves of doubleheaders with the Triton women, who take the field at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. UCSD is 0-2-2 on the road in 2015.

UCSD is just past the midway point of its regular-season schedule. The Tritons are currently alone in fourth among 13 teams in the CCAA table, with seven points from their first four, of 12, league matches.

MATCHDAY SPECS
Once again in 2015, all regular-season home matches at Triton Soccer Stadium are free to attend. Parking permits are required, however, on weeknights on the UCSD campus. Parking permits can be purchased at machines situated at corners of either of the nearest parking lots, behind the spectator stand, as well as the Hopkins Parking Structure behind RIMAC. Parking is free on weekends. All games, home and away, have live stats. Some matches also feature video, including Friday's contest in Carson for a pay-per-view fee of $7.99. All live links are available here.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
UCSD split the weekend to round out a season-long four-match homestand (2-1-1), blanking Cal State East Bay on Friday, 1-0, before dropping a tough 2-1 decision to Stanislaus State on Sunday afternoon. Zachary Lagotta's first goal of 2015 accounted for all the scoring against East Bay, as the sophomore's left-footed strike from distance in the ninth minute held up. Cameron McElfresh made a trio of saves to keep his fourth clean sheet. The Tritons took a 1-0 lead just 28 seconds in against Stan State through a great team goal, Riley Harbour ultimately tallying his first of the year with assists going to Uly de la Cal and Lagotta. They were stunned, however, by successive goals within a span of 1:51 with just under 12 minutes left to play, to surrender all three points. UCSD's lengthy shutout streak at home was thus snapped at a little over 458 minutes.

PREMIER DEFENSE
UCSD has boasted one of the top seven defenses nationally in the NCAA Division II in terms of team goals-against average in each of the last three seasons. The Tritons led the country in that category in 2012 with a then-CCAA-record mark of 0.44, before finishing fourth in 2013 (0.52) and seventh in 2014 (0.65). Their current average stands at 0.93. Uncharacteristically at California Baptist (9/12), UCSD allowed three goals in a single match for the first time since another 3-0 road defeat, at Cal State Dominguez Hills, on Oct. 14, 2012. The Tritons had gone 50 consecutive games without allowing that many opposition scores. They did not concede for over 458 minutes of home action in 2015, until the final 12 minutes of last Sunday's loss to Stanislaus State.

TRITON NOTES
UCSD has yet to score more than once in a single match through nine games in 2015, and has registered just six goals ... The Tritons have converted only one of three penalty-kick opportunities into goals ... UCSD started three true freshmen for the first time this year vs. Cal State East Bay (9/25) in Quinn Allan, Andrew Flores and Brandon Monteiro Magpayo ... UCSD is 11-3-2 in season openers in the Division II era, and is unbeaten (2-0-1) over its last three, including the 1-1 draw at Saint Martin's (9/3) ... UCSD is 9-5-2 in CCAA openers after successive 1-0 triumphs at Cal State L.A. and vs. Cal Poly Pomona (9/18) ... UCSD was picked by league head coaches to place fourth in the 2015 CCAA preseason poll, with reigning West Region champion Cal State L.A. the favorite with eight of 13 first-place votes ... The Tritons are coming off of back-to-back trips to both the CCAA and NCAA tournaments ... UCSD has posted a winning record in five straight seasons and six out of seven under head coach Jon Pascale ... The Tritons went 10-4-6 overall and 5-2-4 in CCAA play in 2014, tying for third in the then-12-team league.

ROSTER NOTES
Among 28 players on the 2015 roster are 15 returners, 13 newcomers, and no seniors ... Nine players have made their Triton debuts this season, including five true freshmen and junior Justice Duerksen, a transfer from Division I Seattle University who has started all nine matches on the left wing ... UCSD returns the hub of its defense in redshirt juniors Cameron McElfresh in goal and Brett Sampiere (Solana Beach/Torrey Pines HS) and Kuba Waligorski on the back line ... Waligorski was a Daktronics All-West Region Second Team and All-CCAA Second Team pick in a first go-around in La Jolla for the native of Poland, while McElfresh garnered All-CCAA honorable mention in his first full season as the starting net-minder ... Sampiere earned All-CCAA honorable mention in 2013 before missing 12 of 20 games a year ago ... Besides Sampiere, other San Diego products are sophomore winger Zachary Lagotta (Cathedral Catholic HS) and true freshmen Nathaniel Bloom (Encinitas/San Dieguito HS Academy) and Daniel Boemer (Scripps Ranch HS) ... Bloom's first collegiate goal proved to be the decider in the 26th minute of UCSD's first win of 2015, vs. Concordia (9/8) in the home opener.

HEAD COACH JON PASCALE
Jon Pascale, a two-time CCAA Coach of the Year through back-to-back honors in 2012 and 2013, has posted a 71-43-28 (.599) overall record in his eighth season in charge of the UCSD men's soccer program. He is 53-35-20 (.583) in arguably the toughest NCAA Division II conference in the nation, the CCAA. Pascale has guided the Tritons to five straight winning campaigns, six of his seven, and two successive berths in both the CCAA Championship and NCAA Championship. A 1-0 home victory over Sonoma State on Sept. 29, 2013, gave him career win No. 50, while a 2-0 triumph at Cal State Stanislaus in the very next match on Oct. 4 marked his 100th contest at the Triton helm. Pascale directed his first postseason tilt on Nov. 8, 2013, in Turlock, a come-from-behind, 2-1 overtime win over rival Chico State in a CCAA Championship semifinal. He made his NCAA Championship debut as a head coach on Nov. 16, 2013, in La Jolla. A 2-0 home decision over Cal State East Bay on Oct. 12, 2014, meant CCAA win No. 50 for Pascale, who coached his 100th CCAA tilt at Cal State Monterey Bay five days later.

ABOUT THE TOROS
No. 14 Cal State Dominguez Hills (6-1-2, 2-0-2 CCAA) most recently played to a pair of 2-2 draws on the road at Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State San Bernardino last weekend. The Toros have tallied 22 goals over their nine games, compared to the Tritons' six, but on Friday will be without Pedro Velasquez, who is second on the team with five scores, as the senior must serve a one-game suspension for a red card he was shown at CSUSB on Sunday. Junior newcomer Mike Dias leads the squad with 15 points from seven goals and an assist. CSUDH is 2-1 at home in 2015. Head coach Joe Flanagan is in his 22nd season in charge of the men's program at his alma mater.

SERIES HISTORY
Cal State Dominguez Hills leads the all-time series, 16-5-6. UCSD won the lone matchup in 2014, 2-0 at home on Senior Night on Oct. 30. Both meetings in 2013 ended in 1-1 draws. The teams split their two games in 2012, with the Tritons taking a 1-0 decision in La Jolla in late September, and the Toros producing a 3-0 victory in Carson in mid-October. The three goals surrendered were a season high for UCSD, having allowed just eight that whole year.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Cal State L.A. (5-1-1, 3-1 CCAA) dropped out of the national poll this Tuesday following Sunday's 1-0 loss at Cal Poly Pomona. The Golden Eagles had won their previous five, with four via shutout. Troy Dumlao has a team-best three goals, while Marvin Iskra leads with seven points from two goals and three assists. CSULA first hosts Cal State San Marcos on Friday, before the Tritons head back up to Los Angeles on Sunday morning. Cal State L.A. is directed by 13th-year head coach Chris Chamides. The Golden Eagles, 2-0 at home this season, were CCAA champions in 2011 and 2013.

SERIES HISTORY
Cal State L.A. leads the all-time series, 13-12-4. The Golden Eagles ended the Tritons' 2014 season in the first round of the NCAA Championship in Azusa. The teams played to a 1-1 draw, as Brandon Bauman slotted home a penalty at 86:02 after CSULA had grabbed a 76th-minute lead through a Shane Panther strike. The penalty-kick tiebreaker went the way of the Golden Eagles, however, 5-4. UCSD took the 2014 regular-season meeting, 1-0, in the CCAA opener for both sides last Sept. 26 in Los Angeles. Bauman notched the lone goal, also from the penalty spot, in the 75th minute. The teams faced off three times in 2013, with a pair of 1-0 wins going in favor of the Golden Eagles around a 1-1 draw in the regular-season finale in La Jolla. CSULA had won three straight against UCSD in Los Angeles, all by the identical scoreline of 1-0, prior to last year's matchup. The Tritons had not upended CSULA anywhere over their previous seven meetings (0-6-1) since a 1-0 triumph in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, 2010. Of those six losses, five were by the final score of 1-0.

GEAR UP
For the latest in Triton athletic gear, make sure to visit ucsdtritonsgear.com. Run by UCSD Athletics' online partner, Advanced-Online, the site provides an on-demand option for Triton athletic apparel and merchandise. Fans have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours.

FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are in eighth grade or under, check out the Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UCSD home athletic events, and much more!

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UP NEXT
UCSD is back at Triton Soccer Stadium next weekend for Homecoming 2015. The Tritons host Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., and SF State on Sunday, Oct. 11, at 2 p.m.

#TritonsRising